Rantixoas
by LightningSword5
Summary: The story of a mysterious youth that suddenly appeared in The Castle that Never Was.
1. Chapter 1

Rai: So, uh, LS5 is writing another fanfic to bog himself down with. Maybe he'll find one that he can stick to one day. This time it's about Kingdom Hearts. Enjoy.

Rantixoas

The Castle that Never Was- Another day. But is it really day? You can never tell, what with our moon always being out. Every other world I'd been to had a spherical moon, but ours was shaped like a heart- like, one of the things I don't have. I don't understand why we want them so bad. I feel confused- but Axel tells me that nobodies like us can't feel. But if I could feel, how I feel right now would be confused.

I'm walking to the white room when something I've never seen before walks down the corridor, turning the corner I was preparing to round myself. It was wrapped completely in black, darkness seeming to flow from every pore in its body. It had spiky hair that was the same shade as the rest of his body, but was clearly defined and unkempt. Its hands ended in lengthy claws, almost as though it was just an oversized shadow. And its eyes were empty, almost pale blues. I could only tell that it was blinking because said blues filled with black on occasion.

"Um... hi?" I tried, looking at it with a somewhat friendly smile. "I'm Roxas."

"**Roxas?"** its voice was nearly the same as mine, with a sort of second voice coming with it. **"That could be my name..."**

"Huh?" I asked, looking at him with confusion- sorry, I can't be confused. Suddenly he, for I assumed it was a he now, looked sharply to his right.

"**Trouble,"** he muttered, turning around and dashing in the direction I'd previously been going.

"What? Trouble?" I asked, worried, deciding against my instinct to follow him. I ran after him, observing how his hands stretched out, along with his arms, as he ran.

3-3-3-3-3

"What's going on?" Axel asked, looking around with a certain peculiarity in his eye. "What are you guys up to, huh?"

The dusks replied not, instead opting to prance around the white room in their fluid way, staring with apt consideration at the hallway leading into said room. Around thirty of the had suddenly appeared, floating around the room as though waiting for something.

"Odd, isn't it?" Luxord mused. "Perhaps the superior wishes us to strike them down?"

"With pleasure," Xigbar grinned, his arrowguns materializing in flashes of purple light. "I'm in the mood to blow off a little steam."

The sound of hurried footsteps was reverberating in the hallway before a figure shrouded in black skidded to a halt in the room.

"What... is that?" Axel asked, staring at said figure comprehensively as it panted. Why was he hearing double voices? The dusks clambered their way over to the new entry with rushed, purposeful movements.

Time passed as the dusks squared off against this strange person. It stood stone-still, dull sapphire eyes darting around the room. It then slowly raised its hand.

That was all it took for all heck to break loose.

The dusks bombarded the creature with their bodies, enwrapping while uttering threatening hisses and soundless howls. Axal, Luxord and Xigbar simply stood back, amazed at what they were seeing. What had set them off?

Suddenly, each of the dusks flew off in different directions, revealing the creature's hand, thrust forward and glowing a dim gray.

"Hey!" Roxas called from the hallway as he bounded into the room, gasping for breath. "What's going on?!"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Axel told his shorter friend, never taking his eyes off the strange being a few paces away from him. "Dusks think this guy's a threat."

The being lowered his arm, roaming in a jerky way to the middle of the room, never fully lowering its guard. The dusks floated downwards before they were almost at ground level, jetting across the floor towards it. T leapt up when they were upon him, almost hitting the twenty-feet-up ceiling before falling back down to the floor. The dusks pursued it rapidly as it dashed past Axel, going horizontal as it turned and ran around the glass wall in a panicked way.

"He needs help!" Roxas cried, summoning his keyblade and leaping towards the dusk nearest to him.

"Roxas!" Axel shouted, making the blonde pause. "We don't know anything about him aside from the fact that the dusks are after him. We can't pick a side right now."

"But..."

"Personally, I say we shoot 'em all up and ask questions later," Xigbar said, aiming his arrowguns at the creature as it bolted past him.

"Hold it, number II," Luxord ordered. "Leave it for now. Unless Saix or the superior command us to do so, we'll do nothing."

"Fine, fine," Xigbar muttered as the guns disappeared. "But don't say I didn't tell you so."

The figure was still running circles around the white room, gradually picking up speed on every pass. Suddenly, one of the dusks got wise and leapt in front of it. Yelping with surprise in that bi-voiced way, it slashed its hand out, causing the dusk to disappear.

"**I wish you no harm!" **it tried, leaping to the ground and raising its arms in defeat. **"Let me be!"**

Paying no mind, the dusks swarmed the creature. Axel had to hold Roxas back as an ear-splitting scream/howl blasted from the being's gaping mouth.

The dusks reacted to the sound by retreating rapidly, leaving the creature standing in the middle of the room once more. Its mouth, only just now open, revealed rows of sharp fangs that chilled the room's habitants to the bone.

The dusks attempted once more to attack- their final mistake.

The being moved as a blur of controlled slashes, somersaults, and leaps, shredding the dusks apart and leaving a thick trail of shadow behind it, fangs gnashing.

As soon as it was finished, another cloud of dusks materialized, lunging towards the creature. It bent down on all fours before standing, it's arms reaching for the ceiling as it scream/howled once more. Shadows erupted from the ground, shades of black and blue tainting the room as what seemed to be a gravitational pull yanked the dusks towards the creature, which upon being touched, ripped apart the dusks that weren't viciously eviscerated by the darkness. And then all was still.

The four nobodies gaped silently at the creature as it slowly turned towards them. It slowly raised an arm, and to everyone's surprise, a dark corridor opened in front of it.

"**I have no business here," **it whispered. **"I'm leaving."**

With that, it vanished into the corridor of its own creation.

"I think we should tell Xemnas about this," Axel muttered.

3-3-3-3-3

After that strange experience, the rest of the day went by pretty normally- up until the end. I did my mission and went to the tower, just like Axel and I normally did. Upon reaching the top where we always sat, I saw someone sitting in my spot.

It was him.

"Hey!" I shouted, and it looked my way without hostility. "What are you doing here?"

"**I'm safe here," **he responded, turning his head to the sunset calmly. **"Nothing attacks me up here."**

"Why were the dusks after you?" I asked him, cautiously walking up to him. He patted the spot next to him with a claw, gesturing for me to sit down.

"**Don't ask me," **he shrugged. **"Guess I just looked appetizing."**

"Who are you, really?" I asked, not sitting down.

"**I'm a nobody, just like you," **he responded.

"What?!"

"**It's true."**

"Well..." I stared at him, at a loss for words. "What's your name?"

"**Well..." **he looked up at my face, a smile on his own. His mouth was actually proportionate to his head, unlike the Cheshire Cat style I'd expected. **"Considering who I was in my past life, I guess you could call me...**

"**Rantixoas."**


	2. Chapter 2

LS5: So I'm back. Here's the next chapter!

Rantixoas chapter 2

Saïx materialized from a black corridor in his chair, sitting below his superior with a solemn stare. (hey that rhymed)

"He has awakened," he stated simply.

"Good," Xemnas smiled, otherwise not acknowledging the Luna Diviner. "Bring him to me. Make sure he knows his place."

"And his number?"

"In any other case," Xemnas mused. "He would be number XV. But, taking account of the fact that he is HIS nobody, and without taking account of the puppet, I suppose we should have him be... number XXXI."

"Yes, superior," Saïx said dutifully before disappearing in a shroud of black.

3-3-3-3-3

"Rantixoas?" I asked with curiosity, to which he nodded simply. "Why Rantixoas?"

"**I'm supposed to jumble up my original name and put an "**_**x**_**" in it, right?" **he asked, his eyes going back to the sunset, though his grin never faltered. **"I just did that with my old name."**

"Okay," I muttered. I'd actually never noticed that. Where could my name have come from? What was my "original" self's name? How did he know so much more about nobodies than me?

Suddenly, he turned his nose to the ground far below and frowned.

"**More trouble," **he murmured.

"What?" I barely had time to ask before he propelled himself off of the clock tower. I gasped as I watched him fall, down, down, down to the ground. Just when I thought he was going to be a splat on the cobblestone, a dark corridor opened beneath him and he vanished.

Just then, Saïx appeared from his own dark corridor right next to me.

"Roxas," he said, hiding undertones of disgust poorly. His height and mine were like, continents apart, which didn't help the fact that his voice intimidated me.

"Um, yeah?" I asked, flinching when he blinked.

"Have you seen a black figure today, about your height?" he asked me.

_Racist, _I thought to myself.

"Uh-huh." I responded dumbly. "Back at the castle."

"Since then?"

I don't know what made me do it, but I shut my mouth and shook my head no almost automatically. He paused.

"Alright," he said, his expression suspicious for half a second before becoming neutral. "Be back before tomorrow."

I nodded as he left, not letting out the breath I only just realized I'd been holding until the corridor from whence he came disappeared.

"**Thanks," **he said, dropping from his perch directly above me. Lucky for us, Saïx hadn't looked up.

"Sure," I said, an odd feeling crossing my mind as I looked at him.

"**I don't like the looks of that guy," **he told me, his mouth unmoving when he spoke, as though it was just there for decoration. **"You shouldn't either."**

"What?"

"**I don't exactly get the feeling that he's a warm and cuddly guy," **he responded. **"I can't help but wonder what's in your future with him."**

"..."

"**Sorry," **he laughed nervously, his mouth opening as he did so. **"We've hardly just met, you and I. I'm not making any sense, huh?"**

"No less sense than when we first met, though," I told him with a grin. He laughed once again, a full, hearty laugh. Somehow, even with the double voices, I couldn't find it creepy so much as... well, normal.

"**So, Roxas," **he looked to me as he finished laughing. **"What are **_**you**_** doing up here?"**

"I come here every day after my mission," I told him, finally sitting down. Usually, with things like the heartless or Saïx, I can feel hostility. But this guy, I'd never felt any directly. Even when he fought the dusks, it was more of him just protecting himself than outright violence.

"**I come here when I finish work, too," **he said.

"What kind of work do you do?"

"Well,"he sighed, and his mouth moved this time, with only one voice. My voice.

"Mostly I'm just looking for a home."

"Um..."

"Oh, that?" he smiled and laughed once more. "Sorry. This is more your voice than mine, isn't it?"

"How are you doing that?"

"**Most of the time I talk with my mind," **he responded, this time unmoving. **"But when I do that, my... friend talks with me."**

"Your friend?"

"**It doesn't matter," **he shook his head. **"But you come here every day, right?"**

"Y-Yeah."

"**Well, we'll just have to meet up here at the same time tomorrow," **he said decisively.

"Wait, you're leaving?"

"**Your friends are coming soon, right?" **he stood up on the ledge, something I thought nobody would ever be stupid enough to do. **"I don't wanna bore you guys."**

"You won't-"

"**Tomorrow, alright?" **he asked, turning around and spreading his arms.

"Wait!" I tried, but he'd already fallen backwards, doing the same as before- falling before disappearing at the last second. "I wanted to talk for a little longer..."

"Hey, Roxas," Axel said, coming around the corner, jolting me out of my sadness. "You talkin' to yourself?"

"N-No," I said, glaring at him. "You're late again."

"Am not," he defended himself. "I'm just..."

I stared at him, cocking an eyebrow.

"Alright, I'm late," he relented. "But I come bearing gifts."

He held out a Sea-salt Ice Cream, and I took it without a pause.

"Yup, this and about five thousand munny should buy your forgiveness," I said, chomping down into it.

"Hey, come on!" he laughed, which of course led to me laughing.

3-3-3-3-3

"Finally alone..." he murmured, walking through the sky-lit trees to the old mansion on the edge of town. "Man, this is a small world..."

The old mansion's gates were, as always, locked. But nobody ever came here, so he was safe for the most part. The heartless wouldn't bother him, and the nobodies would probably leave him alone after the scene he caused at their castle, IF they found him that is.

"Found you."

_Crap._

"**What do you want, Isa?"** he asks, turning to the nobody, his mind speaking.

"I don't go by that name anymore," he responded, his expression cold and unfaltering. "How do you know it?"

_The less he actually knows about me, the better._

"**Oh, you know,"** he shrugged with an abnormally large, toothy grin. **"Lea will tell you anything if you torture him enough."**

"No, actually, I won't," another, somewhat annoyed voice said from behind him, causing him to turn and see Axel.

"You've been doing some research, haven't you?" Saïx asked calmly, not moving from his spot. "You've been watching us."

"**Maybe I have, maybe I haven't," **Rantixoas responded, standing in such a position that he could watch both of the people watching him.

"So on top of killing our dusks, you're stalking us?" Axel asked with a look of disgust.

"**Shouldn't you be with Roxas right now?" **he asked, a glare besetting his onyx face.

"Told him to go on home," Axel told him. "That we had a deviant to either pick up or beat down."

"Depending on whether or not you're willing to cooperate," Saïx continued. "It's either you join us- or join the dead."

He pretended to mull it over. **"Will I get a cool coat?"**

"It's uniform, man," Axel laughed at the boy's supposed willingness.

"**But then in the Summer it'll get really hot..."**

"Look, boy," Saïx glared harshly at Rantixoas. "Are you joining or aren't you?"

"**Chill out, big guy," **Rantixoas sighed. **"I like to take my time on these things. Will there be people for me to kill?"**

"What?"

"**Well, I can't live without my daily slaughter," **Rantixoas said as if it was obvious, licking his invisible lips with a dry, pale tongue.

"Um, you can kill heartless," Axel said, caught off guard by the sadistic statement.

"**Not good enough," **he said with a grin and a wag of his lengthened claw. **"They just don't bleed."**

Visibly disturbed by the comment, both organization members stepped back.

"**I mean, you know how it is," **Rantixoas went on, getting really into the lie as his eyes shined yellow. **"When you just get that scent that makes you wanna go berserk... and then, oh lord, the taste of it..." **His fanged grin would've petrifiedXemnas himself.

"We don't go out of our way to murder innocent people," Axel said, off his guard.

_One chance._

He moved faster than the speed of DARK, his hands and feet jetting him away from his interrogators.

"Hey!" Axel called after him, reacting too late to catch his darting figure. He cursed himself at his own failure, but Saïx simply shook his head.

"There are better times and better places," Saïx sighed, looking up. "Though it's safe to say he won't be cooperating."

"So we're just going to kill him?" Axel asked.

"You think it's safe to have something like that running around?" Saïx asked, turning to RTC.

_That's not it. I know and you know that that was a ploy. _Axel turned to do the same thing, pausing for a second before stepping through the corridor.

3-3-3-3-3

"This city..." I murmured, walking down a street to an enormous skyscraper. "I can't help but feel horrible vibes here."

A place where nobody but nobodies lived, a sort of ghost town below a castle. A town blanketed with darkness, accented by a blue hue. The rain didn't stop pouring, no matter the time of day, and the moon never set or rose.

"... What am I doing here?" I asked myself, sitting down below the skyscraper, leaning against the door. "The only reason I'm ever here is to avoid threats like those nobodies that've been hunting me..."

_**It wouldn't be a problem if you let me help like last time.**_

_No. You're too ruthless._

_**And YOU'RE too soft.**_

I sighed. For those of you who're wondering, I'm not insane. I'm simply a nobody that can carry a two-sided conversation with his own psyche.

... Oh God, I am crazy.

Can a nobody be schizophrenic? I think I must be...

"Well, there you are," a familiar voice said to me, making my head turn.

"Lea?"

"No, no," he sighed. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Um, yeah," I muttered, looking back to the ground. I didn't feel any direct hostility, so he wasn't here to kill me. "What are you doing here?"

"You should ask yourself that question," he retorted with a grin. "I don't like this place much myself, but it's a home."

"That's nice," I muttered, standing, not bothering to laugh at the irony- I HAD asked myself that question, less than two minutes ago. "Well, I'll just go now."

"Hold up, kid," he said, his eyes following me, though he himself didn't move. I paused.

"What is it?"

"You're voice has changed," he noted. "That telepathy thing was just you trying to freak us out, wasn't it?"

"So what if it was?"

"Just wondering," Axel said defensively, holding his hands up.

"Why are you really here for?" I asked him, turning around. "You aren't here to make small talk, I know that much. What do you want from me?"

"Well, frankly, you're going to be killed if you don't join the organization," he told me, now serious. "If you don't want to die, you should really reconsider your decision."

"Why are you offering me this chance?" I asked, not letting on whether or not I'd take it.

"Roxas may have had something to do with it," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Said you weren't all bad, that you made nice company. Why do you act differently in front of him than you did Saïx?"

"Because he wasn't preparing to kill me," I said honestly, walking towards Axel slowly.

He stepped back.

"You don't trust me," I prodded with a frown. "You're afraid of me."

"I don't know you," Axel responded. "I can't trust someone I've never met." I stopped my advances.

"Then you know how I feel," I told him. "I can tell when somebody wants me dead. But just because you don't want me dead right this second doesn't mean I trust you. You've got some ulterior motive, something up your sleeve. You aren't offering me a chance out of the goodness of your heart."

"I don't have a heart," he told me with a frown. "You don't either."

"That's where you're wrong," I responded. "I have a heart."

And with that, I lunged towards him, claws and fangs bared. His surprise was evident, though it didn't hold him back. Drawing a pair of red and white chakrams out of nowhere, he blocked my hands. I let out a feral roar as I opened my mouth beyond proportion, darkness bursting from my throat. He was thrown backwards as he cried out in pain, skidding to a stop a few feet away.

"Listen to me!" he shouted, holding his chakrams above his head. "All I want is for you to be safe!"

"**Why?!"** I asked, darting in a zigzagged pattern towards him.** "Why would you care about me?!"**

"Because you're alive!" he responded, jumping over my head as I barreled through the air in which he'd just been standing. I snarled, watching him land.

"**You're telling me you've never harmed an innocent life form?!"**

"Not intentionally," he conceded, guard up, though in no way aggressive.

"I... I don't understand," I muttered, slowly rising from all fours to two feet. "You don't have any real reason for letting me live..."

" ... If I'm truthful, it's because of Roxas," he sighed. "He doesn't know that I was sent here to kill you. That was the original idea, but where's the harm in just bringing you back if you join, eh?"

"...Isa," I averted my gaze. "Do you trust him?"

"I've known him for a long time," he responded, his chakrams disappearing as he walked towards me. "I kinda have to."

"... He's the only reason I'd want to say no," I admitted, looking down at the ground. "I need a solid home."

"Then you're coming?"

"... Yeah."

"Well then, c'mon," he ordered, pointing towards the castle. "Let's go. I never caught your name, by the way."

I followed him as he turned towards the castle, me following close behind.

"It's Rantixoas."


End file.
